Fencing



(No Model.)

B. HAWE'S.

FENCING.-

No. 400,083. Patented Mar. 26, 1889,.

N. PEYENS. PMXn-Lilhographur, Washington. D-Q

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELISHA HAWES, OF SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA.

FENCING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 400,083, dated March 26, 1889.

Application filed February 12, 1887. Serial No. 227,431. (No model.)

To all 1071 0722, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ELISHA HAWES, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sacramento city, in the county of Sacramento and State of California, have invented a new and useful way of Constructing Fences, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvement in fences; and it consists in the peculiar construction hereinafter described and claimed.

The accompanying drawing is an elevation of a fence embodying my improvements.

A broad strip, A, of sheet metal is secured and stretched between the bases of the posts and has its upper edge serrated to form inverted-V-shaped points. This strip may be made of any suitable sheet metal, and an economical mode of obtaining the same is to open and straighten five-gallon tin canssuch as are commonly used for packing tallow and other substances. In said strip A, at suitable distances apart, are made V-shaped incisions, forming two sides of V-shaped tongues. lVhenthe latter are bent outward to a horizontal position, V-shaped openings B are formed below them? The width of the strip A is so great that rabbits and other small game cannot jump over it. Inasmuch as the lower end of the strip extends to the ground,

rabbits cannot pass under it, and in attempting to pass the fence are inclined to jump through the openings B. Owing to the shape of the latter the rabbits are caught in them just behind their shoulders and suspended with their feet out of contact with the ground, and the fence thus forms a trap which will be found sufficient in most partly-tiinbered countries to supply an abundance of small game. The openings may at any time be closed by bending down the V-shaped tongues. A barbed wire, C,is stretched on and secured to the posts at such a height and in such a position as to bear against opposite sides of the V-shaped points on the upper edge of the metal strip A, alternately as shown.

A suitable number of barbed wires, 0, are secured to the posts, and at a suitable height from the ground a strip of sheet metal, 1), is lso secured thereto.

both sides of the strip E. Cross-strips H are I placed behind the strips E at the angles of the strip F, and rosettes of suitable form are placed on the front sides of said strips E and riveted to the said cross-strips, as shown. A fence thus constructed is extremely strong and durable, and will be found of great utility. One of the uses to which it may be put is to prevent the. destructive spread of prairie fires and the advances ofthe armyworm, grasshoppers, and other pests.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. A fence having broad sheet-metal strips, A, just above and extending down to the ground, said strips being provided with vertical V-shaped openings B, with their lower corners at a distance of a few inches above the ground, for the purpose set forth, substantially as described.

2. A fence having broad sheet-metal strips A just above and extending down to the ground, said strips being provided with the vertical V-shaped openings B, the lower corners of which are ata distance of a few inches above the ground, and the V-shaped tongues formed integrally with the strips and adapted to be bent into and thereby close the openings, substantially as described.

I In a fence, the upper wire and parallel strips E, in combination with the zigzag strip F strung between said wire and strips, and the cross-pieces II and rosettes riveted together and arranged on opposite sides of strips E at the angles of strips F, substantially as described.

ELISHA IIAWES. \Vitnesses:

JoHN HENRY CARROLL, EDGAR BARCLAY CARROLL. 

